The invention relates to tape decks for receiving record tape cartridges for information interchange between the tape and the data system to which the tape deck is coupled.
Tape decks commonly include the mechanism which furnishes the power to drive the record tape within its cartridge, as well as the transducer, called read/write head, which either records the data on or retrieves the data from the moving tape. Effective utilization of tape as a storage medium depends upon precision in positioning the tape cartridge within the deck and in driving the tape uniformly within the positioned cartridge.
Precision cartridge positioning, however, tends in various prior art tape deck designs to be incompatible with ease of insertion and release of cartridge. It is also incompatible with freedom to operate tape deck in any desired position and under certain other environmental stresses such as vibration. Further, a reliable, non-slipping coupling between the drive motor in the tape deck and the driven mechanism of the tape cartridge also tends to be incompatible with ease of insertion and release of the cartridge.
The present invention has for its principal objects, therefore, to overcome the several disadvantages of present tape deck designs as set forth above and to provide a reliable, efficient precision tape deck for accommodating standardized tape cartridges.